Taiwan Earthquake: Rescue work continues as quakes shake Hualien

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In Taiwan, the number of confirmed dead in the earthquake that hit Hualien County has risen to 17, and the bodies of the family of five from the Chinese mainland were found Friday evening. Another 276 people were injured in the earthquake. Zheng Chunying has more.

These are the moments when the magnitude-6.5 quake began to shake Hualien County. The powerful tremor left a handful of buildings badly damaged, with some on the edge of collapsing.

Three of the partially collapsed buildings have been cleared of people, and are now being demolished for public safety.

For the rescuers, the major focus is another damaged building, the Yun Tsui apartment block, which housed the Beauty Stay Hotel on its lower floors.

Earlier today, the rescue team detected "signs of life" in this building, but only found the bodies of a Canadian-Chinese couple afterwards. Meanwhile, more than 700 people are still in temporary shelters in the county.

Chen Chien-hsiang (陈建香) is a resident in Hualien. He was in his apartment when the earthquake happened. He recalls that his sixth-floor home fell to the height of a second-floor apartment.

CHEN CHIEN-HSIANG RESIDENT "I was in a panic. I got out in my pajamas and took nothing."

Chen now lives in a temporary shelter set up in a local primary school with other people affected by the disaster. Basic living supplies are offered at the shelter. However, many still suffer from physical and mental pressures.

HUANG CHI-CHIA DOCTOR, MEDICAL ASSOCIATION IN HUALIEN "Most of them have mental difficulties or coughing problems. When we have a lot of people here in one place, the priority is to control the spread of disease. Because when people gather together, it is inevitable to see some minor contagious diseases."

The county of Hualien now has two shelters accommodating those affected in the quake. The Red Cross Society of China is providing 1 million yuan -- nearly 160-thousand U.S. dollars -- for rescue operations. For the people in the shelters, they only have one wish: to go back to their homes as soon as possible and to restore their hometown.

Zheng Chunying , CGTN.